The Alternate
by Kimera
Summary: A girl who looks like she could be Jake's twin asks the Animorphs to help her free her friends. But just where *is* she from?
1. Prologue

alternate

The Alternate   
By Kimera 

* * *   
**Prologue**

My name is Emma. That's all I can tell you about me, apart from my basic physical characteristics. I'm not telling you my last name, where I live, or any of that. If I do, the Yeerks of this world will find me. It wouldn't matter so much if I was still in my own dimension- because they'd already captured me- but that doesn't matter. I have a second chance now. I'm in a dimension where the Yeerk invasion isn't quite as advanced as it was on my world. 

No biological weapons had been unleashed upon Earth. People who were not Controllers still existed. Most of Earth's native plant and animal species still existed. My friends were still alive. 

In my dimension, things were completely different. My friends Marco, Tobias, and Cassie, as well as my cousin Rachel and the Andalite, Ax, were all dead. 

Yes, you heard me. My *cousin* Rachel. One of the many things about this new dimension I've managed to escape to is that here, I was born as a guy. 

Maybe I should explain from the beginning... Please let me know if I should bother with the actual story. I don't know what possessed me to write this- it was 2am, and I got the idea and then I had to write it down. 


	2. Chapter One

alternate2 A/N: The timeline for this story is somewhere between books 16-20 (so still fairly early on) in the regular Animorphs series. And grrr, why did the formatting in the Prologue look all weird? 

The Alternate   
by Kimera

* * *   
**Chapter One**

You probably know the story of Jake and the other Animorphs pretty well, already. Mine is a bit different. See, in my reality, the Yeerks were a little more ruthless, a little quicker. 

When they found out that there were 'Andalite Bandits' intent on stopping them from taking control of Earth, they began to move ahead with the next phase of invasion. Only a little while after we found Ax, they began to introduce the first of the chemical weapons into our atmosphere, specifically designed to eliminate all "unnessecary" life forms. 

The six of us survived. There were other survivors as well, a few thousand non-Controllers scattered about the continent. I'm not entirely sure about the rest of the world, but the situation was probably the same. 

Anyway, this is where my story begins. Shortly before the Yeerks went and made our atmosphere toxic, we'd been spying on our favourite- well, okay, not really favourite- Human-Controller, Chapman. We learned of an experimental little device that allows someone to travel between different dimensions, alternate possibilities. Places where almost everything was the same except for a few minor details. And now that pretty much all hope for Earth was lost, we decided we needed to take it, so that the Yeerks wouldn't do to other Earths what they'd done to ours. 

"Are you INSANE?" 

Well, most of us anyway. Marco IS my best friend, but sometimes he just doesn't get the point. 

"Marco..." Rachel said, and then she coughed. None of us had come out unscathed by the chemicals, after all. We were all sick in one way or another, "don't you get it? Things are hopeless in THIS world. But if we can escape to some other Earth, we can help the Animorphs there defeat the Yeerks." 

"If there even ARE Animorphs wherever we end up. Who knows, maybe our doubles were SANE and decided they didn't need to attempt to get themselves killed at least once a week," 

Rachel hit Marco across the arm. 

"Then we take up the fight there... so this never happens to anyone else," Cassie said, with steel in her voice. You know Cassie- she loves animals, and the extinction of the majority of Earth's species had hardened her somewhat. 

"Exactly!" Rachel said, offering Cassie a little smile. Rachel and Cassie were best friends, and since Rachel was my cousin, I sometimes hung out with Cassie as well. But I wasn't as close to her as Rachel was. 

So... we'd have to sneak on to the Blade Ship, find wherever they're hiding the device, steal it, and try and figure out how to use it.> 

"That's essentially it, Tobias," I said. "Ax? Can you figure out how to work this Yeerk thing?" 

I will have no problems, Emma. Yeerk technology is nothing if not simple.> Ax said. When he first met us, he'd asked who our Prince was. The others had told him I was the closest to a 'leader' that we had. He thought it was a bit weird at first- apparently there aren't any female leaders in Andalite society, or at least in their military or whatever. 

"Good. So now. How do we get on the Blade Ship without being noticed?" I put on a fake, cheery smile. 

"Why do I let you talk me into these things?" Marco muttered under his breath. 

We spent the rest of the day planning everything down to the last little detail. There wasn't any room at all for mistakes, this time. 


End file.
